Hunger in America? It happens right here among working poor

This week’s stories about rising hunger in America, coming out of an annual report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, reminded me of a story out of the Edgewood Independent School District. On Fridays, the district’s homeless liaison told me, some children carry empty backpacks to school.

They’re not for homework and books.

They’re grocery bags.

At the end of the day, district employees discreetly fill them with food for the child’s entire family. Without such emergency supplies, some low-income families — people who are also called the working poor — don’t get enough to eat.

A New York Times’ editorial today calls for the federal government to bolster nutrition programs for children and their families.

“The Bush administration tried to deep-six this annual survey,” the editorial says. “But President Obama has dealt with it openly and called the danger to children especially troubling.

“Mr. Obama, who is traveling in Asia, has set himself the task of wiping out child hunger by 2015. To do that, Congress needs to get busy on a broad plan to expand and fully pay for a whole range of nutritional programs aimed at school-age children and their families. Only then will vulnerable children across the country get the nutrition they need.”

During the holidays, we’re reminded to give to those less fortunate than ourselves. The annual report about hunger in America reminds us that the holiday season isn’t the only time Americans should open their wallets or address a national problem of this scope.